Poland opposes Tusk 2d mandate

Today Poland made clear it would oppose the re-appointment of its former prime minister Donald Tusk next week as the chairman of EU Council, responsible for preparing the meetings.

The term of Tusk, who chairs the European Council, which brings together the leaders of the 28 member states of the European Union, ends in May. The Council chair will also a play in Britain’s negotiations to exit the EU.

Tusk, a centrist, has wide backing among EU leaders for a second term except from his own country, where the Law and Justice party (PiS) of his arch-rival Jaroslaw Kaczynski exercises power.

“Donald Tusk is a politician who breaks the elementary rules of the European Union,” Kaczynski told a news conference in Warsaw. “Someone who breaks such rules simply cannot be the European Council’s president and cannot under any circumstances count on our support – or a lack of our objection,” he said.